Matthew Poole and continuators on 1 Samuel 12:21

21 And turn ye not aside , for then should ye go after vain things , which cannot profit nor deliver , for they are vain.)

To wit, after Idols; as they had often done before; and, notwithstanding this warning, did afterwards.

Or, should ye turn aside; which words are easily to be understood out of the foregoing Branch, such Ellipses being most frequent in Scripture, as Deut. 1. 4. 1 King. 14. 14. 2 King. 9. 27.

So Idols are called, Deut. 32. 21. Ier. 2. 5. and so they are, being meer nothings, 1 Cor. 8. 4. having no Divinity nor Power in them, no Influence upon us, nor use or benefit to us.

i. e. Which will not onely be unprofitable, but highly pernicious to you; the contrary Affirmative being understood undet the Negative, as Exod. 20. 7. Numb. 21. 23. Deut. 2. 30.